2011 October | Midwest Sports Fans

The Bottoms Line College Basketball Podcast: Breakdowns of the ACC, the Big 10, and the B.I.A.H. All-Name Team

October 26, 2011 By Andy Bottoms Leave a Comment

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In episode #7 of The Bottoms Line College Hoops Talk Podcast, host Andy Bottoms is joined once again Rob Dauster and Troy Machir of Ballin’ Is a Habit to discuss all the latest news and events in college basketball.

In this week’s episode, the guys provide the latest weekly update on on suspensions, injuries, and obscure NCAA Rules. They also breakdown the ACC and Big Ten for the 2011-12 season. And they review the B.I.A.H. All-Name Team, always a highlight of every preseason for college basketball fans across the country.

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Filed Under: Podcast, The Bottoms Line Tagged With: acc, ballin is a habit, Big 10, CBB, rob dauster, troy machir

College Football Betting Lines and Spread Picks for Week 9 – Saturday, October 29th

October 26, 2011 By Robert Crowe 1 Comment

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Upsets were the theme last weekend in college football, and this week’s slate of games could see even more undefeated teams lose their shot at a national championship.

Both #5 Clemson and #6 Stanford put their undefeated seasons on the line as they both face tough road games. This week has a lot of ranked teams going on the road and has the potential for even more upsets.

With the possibility of more ranked teams getting beat this week, there are some favorable betting lines for the weekend’s top college football games.

Well played clever Rangers fan…well played

October 26, 2011 By Jerod Morris 2 Comments

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Just came across this photo on Twitter thanks to a retweet by the great Gordon Keith of a tweeter named @outoftown_Ed, who I’ll assume is an exuberant Rangers fan in Dallas.

And I have to tip my cap to this Rangers fan.

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Filed Under: MLB Tagged With: 2011 mlb playoffs, mike napoli, Texas Rangers, world series

Go ahead…shoot a 3…I dare you.

October 25, 2011 By Jerod Morris 9 Comments

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I have no idea where this picture comes from, or whose toilet/bathroom setup this is…but I must have it.

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Filed Under: Funny, Viral Story Tagged With: funny, funny picture, the dude, toilet

NFL Power Rankings Week 8: Horrible Football Edition

October 25, 2011 By Drew Lange 4 Comments

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We are seven weeks into the NFL season and I have no clue what to make of it.

Teams are wildly inconsistent and we may have just had the worst week of games yet.

We had three nearly unwatchable games (Browns-Seahawks, Broncos-Dolphins, Ravens-Jaguars), the “return” of Carson Palmer, and the worst combination of prime time football games since ‘Nam. The Saints scored more points on Sunday night against the Colts (62) than the Rams have scored all season (56)! The best game this week was Vikings-Packers, which wasn’t really even that good of a game, just the least bad throughout the entire 60 minutes.

Through seven weeks of the season, I am sure of only three things:

The Packers, Saints and Patriots are the only truly good teams in the league.
The Colts, Rams, and Dolphins are the worst teams in the league since the ’08 Lions.
The rest of the league is a cluster of inconsistent football.

Is this an affect of the shortened preseason and teams just aren’t used to each other yet? Maybe. Kind of hoping so. If this turns into a trend and we are getting handfuls of bad games each week, the NFL might start losing fans.

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Filed Under: NFL, Power Rankings Tagged With: Christian Ponder, Minnesota Vikings, nfl power rankings, nfl week 8

Colby Lewis, “Regression To The Mean”, and a Statistically Insignificant World Series Game 6 Prediction

October 25, 2011 By Jerod Morris 16 Comments

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Stats are funny.

As anyone who has ever written about, watched, or even just thought about sports can tell you, statistics can paint whatever picture you want them to based on how you present them. This is, of course, not just limited to sports. As the old saying goes, “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

With Colby Lewis set to take the mound for the Texas Rangers in Game 6 of what has been an incredibly compelling World Series in which even the blowout treated us to an individual performance for the ages by Albert Pujols, I am intrigued by the superlative playoff statistics compiled by Lewis over the past two seasons and their power to comfort or antagonize Rangers fans, Cardinals fans, and objective bystanders alike.

It just depends on how you look at them.

The Bottoms Line: Big 12 Season Preview, Predictions, POY Pick, and All Conference Team

October 25, 2011 By Andy Bottoms Leave a Comment

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As was the case with the Pac-12, I took an early look at the Big 12 a few months ago, so it’s time to revisit what is now the smallest of the six major conferences.

A few players expected to play key roles for their teams won’t be suiting up this season, which should have a significant impact on the conference race. In putting together my predictions for the league, it was actually easier to slot in the last two teams than it was the first two.

The Unsung Heroes From Week 7 in the NFL

October 25, 2011 By Josh Tinley 2 Comments

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Tim Tebow should buy Virgil Green a beer. Or at least an iced tea. (Wikipedia)

Drew Brees went 31-35 for 325 yards and 5 touchdowns in the Saints’ 62-7 undressing of the Colts.

Aaron Rodgers put together another near-perfect performance for the undefeated Packers.

Cowboys rookie DeMarco Murray ran for 253 yards in relief of injured starter Felix Jones (and fumble-prone backup Tashard Choice), breaking a single-game franchise record set by Emmitt Smith in 1993.

Cam Newton continued his impressive freshman campaign, going 18-23 for 256 yards, rushing for another 59 yards, and scoring one touchdown through the air and one on the ground.

And Tim Tebow raised as many questions as he answered Sunday, struggling for much of the Broncos’ overtime win over the Dolphins before scoring 2 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion in the final 3 minutes of regulation.

These are the players whose names you read in headlines and whose highlights you saw on SportsCenter. But football is an 11-on-11 game, and most of this weekend’s winners wouldn’t have been successful without the contributions of several players who didn’t hear their names mentioned in the post-game press conference.

Here are just a few of the unsung heroes from Week 7 in the NFL:

Fantasy Football Week 8 Start Em, Sit Em Lineup Advice, Projections, and Roster Q&A

October 25, 2011 By Jerod Morris 89 Comments

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I’mmm baaaaaaccccckkkkk!

Did you miss me?

Jon has himself a busy schedule this week, so he texted me this morning and asked if I’d be up for reprising my role as the author of our weekly Start/Sit column here at MSF. I have to admit, as soon as I saw his text I was pretty pumped.

Doing these posts every week, week after week, can admittedly be a bit of a grind, as I learned over the last couple of years; so I was happy to let Jon take it over this year and focus my efforts in other areas. But I’ve missed the weekly challenge of poring over matchups and stats and trends to figure out which players to recommend to you as starts and sits.

So it’s good to be back in the saddle.

Anyway, It’s not like I’ve been totally absent. I still offer commentary on Jon’s posts, answer questions in the comment sections, and monitor the @FantasyMSF Twitter account. So I haven’t really given you a chance to miss me even if you wanted to. Now though, for the first time all year, I have to go on record with start and sit picks.

I’m ready. Let’s roll.

All I Want From Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs is a Reason to Believe Again

October 25, 2011 By Tyler Juranovich 1 Comment

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If you’re a Cubs fan or just a lover of baseball, you’ve probably heard the news that Theo Epstein has accepted the GM job for the Cubs. As there always is when a move of this magnitude is made in sports, people will give their opinion on whether they think it’s a great or terrible move.

I, upon hearing the news, had no real strong opinions. I read both sides of the argument, but I still found myself without a real opinion on the subject. I don’t really care what Epstein did with Boston. I don’t care to hear about his success stories. I don’t even care to hear about his failures in Boston.

All I care about is seeing my Cubs team start winning and becoming a serious threat in the MLB.

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Filed Under: Featured Column, MLB, Windy City Ramblings Tagged With: baseball, chicago, chicago cubs, Jim Hendry, MLB, Theo Epstein

Video: HS running back KJ Dillon scores absurd “flying” TD

October 24, 2011 By Jerod Morris 27 Comments

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@Deadspin just tweeted out a link with the descriptor “High School Running Back Believes He Can Fly.” I was already preparing a clever retort about how R. Kelly believed the same thing (and we know how that turned out!), but then I saw the video.

And holy sweet mercy the kid pretty much can fly.

Just watch the video. It’s one of the most absurdly spectacular touchdowns I’ve ever seen.

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Filed Under: CFB Tagged With: amazing video, college football recruiting, high school football, kj dillon

World Series Game 5 Preview and Prediction: Texas Rangers v St. Louis Cardinals Series Hinges on Left Arm of C.J. Wilson

October 24, 2011 By Jerod Morris Leave a Comment

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Every 9 inning baseball game is a weird, fickle, mysterious entity all its own during which anything is possible. Over large sample sizes, certain aspects of baseball can be predictable and follow expected trends, but in the small sample size of 9 innings, especially when those innings come during playoff time, we often see things we don’t expect.

Did you expect to see Albert Pujols jack three home runs in a single game? He did.

Did you expect the signature pitching performance of the 2011 playoffs to come from the mustachioed Derek Holland? It did.

Did you expect a team to win by driving in the tying and winning runs on consecutive sacrifice flies? It happened.

So I present this World Series Game 5 preview to you with absolutely no certainty that anything I say (except for one thing at the end) will come true or even seem reasonable once the 54th out of the night is recorded.

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Filed Under: MLB Tagged With: 2011 mlb playoffs, c.j. wilson, Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, world series

Fantasy Football Week 8 Waiver Wire Advice and Pickups

October 24, 2011 By Andy Bottoms 33 Comments

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Yesterday was a brutal Sunday in the NFL, both in terms of injuries and the quality of play. With so many prominent fantasy players banged up and six more teams on bye in Week Eight (Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, New York Jets, Oakland, and Tampa Bay), the waiver wire will once again be a popular destination.

Which Incredible Sports Feat Was More Unlikely: Michigan State’s Hail Mary Win or Tim Tebow’s Immaculate Deception?

October 24, 2011 By Jerod Morris 4 Comments

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Every weekend there are numerous feats of sporting greatness that we as sports fans are enthralled by watching. It’s what keeps us coming back, weekend after weekend, to watch, discuss, and dissect these silly games that men making millions play. This weekend was no different.

Albert Pujols did something with a stick of wood that no other man in the history of baseball has done. Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints put on one of the most impressive offensive clinics in the history of football. Aaron Rodgers was so spectacular yet again that his supreme excellence is starting to be taken for granted. I could go on and on.

These were individual feats though, which occurred in games that ended predictably. Two games however, did not end predictably, and in fact ended in the most unlikely ways possible. In this post, I’ll quickly break down each and we’ll vote to see which incredible sports feat was more unlikely.

The Bottoms Line College Basketball Podcast: Breakdowns of the ACC, the Big 10, and the B.I.A.H. All-Name Team

College Football Betting Lines and Spread Picks for Week 9 – Saturday, October 29th

Well played clever Rangers fan…well played

Go ahead…shoot a 3…I dare you.

NFL Power Rankings Week 8: Horrible Football Edition

Colby Lewis, “Regression To The Mean”, and a Statistically Insignificant World Series Game 6 Prediction

The Bottoms Line: Big 12 Season Preview, Predictions, POY Pick, and All Conference Team

The Unsung Heroes From Week 7 in the NFL

[Read more...]

Fantasy Football Week 8 Start Em, Sit Em Lineup Advice, Projections, and Roster Q&A

All I Want From Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs is a Reason to Believe Again

Video: HS running back KJ Dillon scores absurd “flying” TD

World Series Game 5 Preview and Prediction: Texas Rangers v St. Louis Cardinals Series Hinges on Left Arm of C.J. Wilson

Fantasy Football Week 8 Waiver Wire Advice and Pickups

Which Incredible Sports Feat Was More Unlikely: Michigan State’s Hail Mary Win or Tim Tebow’s Immaculate Deception?

[Read more...]

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